Ethoxylates Market - Forecast (2022 - 2027)

The Ethoxylates market size is forecast to reach $16.7 billion by 2027, after growing at a CAGR of 3.8% during 2022-2027. Ethoxylates are organic compounds that are manufactured by treatment of alcohols and phenols with ethylene oxide in the presence of potassium hydroxide as a catalyst. Ethoxylates are used as intermediates during the manufacture of detergents, surface cleaners, cosmetics, and paints. Furthermore, ethoxylates are used as emulsion stabilizers during the processing of Emulsion polymers, floor polish, and wax, as they rapidly dissolve and provide ionic stability to the emulsion. Growing demand for industrial & institutional cleaning products and a surge in demand for non-ionic surfactants will propel the ethoxylates demand during the forecast period.

Report Coverage

The report: “Ethoxylates Market- Forecast (2022-2027)” covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the Ethoxylates Industry.

• By Product: Alcohol, Fatty Amine, Fatty Acid and Others.
• By Application: Household & Personal Care, Agrochemicals, Oil & Gas, Pharmaceuticals and Others.
• By Geography: North America, South America, Europe, APAC, and RoW

Key Takeaways

• New product developments and increasing investments in research and development of ethoxylates are expected to drive the growth of this market.
• Among application, the household & personal care segment is projected to lead the ethoxylates market during the forecast period.
• Europe dominated the ethoxylates market.
• By Product - Segment Analysis

The alcohol segment held a significant share in the ethoxylates market in 2019. Alcohol ethoxylates are the most widely used type of non-ionic surfactants. Alcohol ethoxylates are composed of an alkyl chain, which is combined with ethylene oxide. These are surface active agents, substances that are used to change the surface tension of water to assist in applications such as cleansing, wetting surfaces, foaming, and emulsifying. Being non-ionic surfactants, alcohol ethoxylates can remove grease effectively, which makes them suitable to be used in laundry products, household cleaners, and hand & dishwashing liquids. Alcohol ethoxylates have many other desirable properties such as moderate foaming ability, superior cleaning of fibers, and high tolerance to water hardness. They are widely used in the manufacture of domestic detergents, household & personal care products, and I&I cleaning products.

• By Application - Segment Analysis

The Household & Personal Care segment held a significant share in the ethoxylates market in 2019 growing at a CAGR of XX% during the forecast period. Ethoxylates are widely used in the pharmaceutical industry in ointments, tablets, syrups, and gels as emulsifiers. The growing prevalence of chronic diseases, driven by environmental degradation and negligence towards the health and hygiene has propelled the demand for innovative and effective pharmaceutical formulations. This is expected to drive the ethoxylates demand in the pharmaceutical industry over the forecast period. Moreover, demand for generic drugs is rising among the developing countries that use ethoxylates for the manufacturing process, which is further anticipated to propel its consumption.

Demand across the organic chemicals sector shall register a slump in growth albeit increasing demand for certain chemicals that find end applications in healthcare and food. Furthermore, China, a major supplier of chemicals to the world, registered a considerable decline in manufacturing in the first quarter of 2020, following the trajectory unfolded by COVID-19's escalation to a pandemic. This has led to an imbalance in supply-demand dynamics, forcing manufacturers and customers alike to renegotiate supply agreements.

Geography- Segment Analysis

Europe dominated the ethoxylates market with a share of more than XX%, followed by Asia Pacific and North America. Improving the lifestyle of the people, coupled with heightened awareness regarding personal hygiene, has driven the consumption of the personal care products. Augmented efforts and initiatives undertaken by the national governments as well as the European Commission in reviving the end-use markets for the ethoxylates, including pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals, are expected to propel product demand over the forecast period.

The market growth in Asia Pacific can be attributed to the high consumption of ethoxylates owing to rapidly flourish pharmaceutical, personal care, and cleaning industries in developing economies, including China, India, Japan, and South Korea. Moreover, the region is one of the largest producers as well as exporters of palm oil with Indonesia and Malaysia constituting 60 percent of total world exports. Palm oil is one of the major raw materials used for developing fatty alcohols and amines, which are primary raw materials for obtaining ethoxylates.

Drivers - Ethoxylates Market

Increased demand of low-rinse detergents

The demand for low-rinse detergents is increasing significantly, in various applications. According to various studies, the level of foam produced does not correlate with the cleaning power of detergents, but it is proved that low-foaming detergents can be strong cleaners than the high-foaming detergents. The reason behind the increasing popularity of low-rinse detergents is that they do not ionize in solution and thus have no electrical charge, they are resistant to hardness. Companies are focusing on developing low-rinse products such as methyl ester ethoxylates, as these products produce low foam which also helps in reducing water usage. These low-foaming detergents are preferred for front-loading washing machines, automatic dishwashing machines, and rinse aids. Ethoxylates are mainly non-ionic surfactants, so with the increasing demand of non-rinse detergents the demand of ethoxylates is also increasing.

Challenges - Ethoxylates Market

Availability of substitutes

With the increasing usage of substitute products in household & personal care products, the demand for ethoxylates will also decrease. Some of the ethoxylates for instance, Nonylphenol are toxic in nature, due to which they are banned in many countries. The major substitutes of ethoxylates are sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, and ammonium laurel sulfate. The market share of these substitute products is increasing, which is a barrier to the growth of ethoxylates. An increase in environmental concerns regarding the effects of toxicity coupled with diversification of raw material feedstock by other end-users may hamper the market growth.

Market Landscape

Technology launches, acquisitions and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the ethoxylate market. In 2019, the market of ethoxylate has been consolidated by the top five players accounting for xx% of the share. Major players in the ethoxylate market are The Dow Chemical Company, Ineos Group Limited, Huntsman International LLC, Air Products and Chemicals Inc., and Shell Chemicals. Other players include Stepan Company, Clariant AG, India Glycols Limited, Sasol Limited, and BASF SE among others.

Product Launch/ Acquisition

• In January 2019, INEOS Oxide announced the acquisition of Wilmar’s ethoxylation plant in France. This strategy will enable INEOS to expand their European ethoxylates business. The company aims at increasing the ethylene oxide production capacity of the plant at 270 KT.
• In September 2015, Royal Dutch Shell PLC announced to double its production capacity of high-purity ethylene oxide and ethoxylates at its Jurong Island site (Singapore). This plant will have an ethoxylates production capacity of 140,000 tonnes per annum.
• In March 2014, BASF SE, inaugurated a new surfactant plant in Dahej (India). This helped the company to meet the rising demand of ethoxylates in the region.

This product will be delivered within 2 business days.